Happy Birthday Nolan Bushnell

Happy birthday to Nolan Bushnell, one of the videogame industry's early titans, who turned 65 yesterday. Bushnell's legacy -- which is indeed ongoing -- includes the founding of Atari, the massive success of Pong, and the birth of Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza-Time Theaters. It's an exciting trajectory for a man whose first gig in the entertainment business was working for an amusement park in Farmington, Utah.

Nolan Bushnell

Atari may no longer be the powerhouse it once was in videogames, but the footprint and influence it had in the industry is without detraction. In 1971, Bushnell started Syzygy, the company that would later become Atari, with partner Ted Dabney. Syzygy's first and only product was Computer Space, the first commercially sold coin-operated videogame arcade cabinet in the world. Computer Space was a clone of Spacewar, the famous sci-fi shooter created by Steve Russell at MIT in the 1960s. Computer Space was a minor success, earning a lot of attention for its inventive, smooth-surface cabinet that looked like a prop from Stanley Kubrick's 2001.

In 1972, Bushnell had to surrender the Syzygy name as it already in use by other companies, and chose Atari. The name comes from the classic Chinese board game, Go. Bushnell hired Al Alcorn as an engineer and the company set out to make its next product: Pong. Pong is practically synonymous with Atari and videogames, but the story behind Pong's evolution and success is not without a bump or two. Pong was a monster hit, snowballing from its success at Andy Capp's Tavern in Grass Valley, CA (where the game malfunctioned from being stuffed with too many quarters). Atari sold over 8,000 arcade units by March 1973 and Bushnell claims that over 38,000 were sold before the game went out of production. Atari also sold dedicated Pong home consoles through 1977.

Pong's success drew the ire of Magnavox as it believed Bushnell had infringed on one of its patents: The Magnavox Odyseey and its tennis game, both created by Ralph Baer. Atari fought the lawsuit, but records in a guest book Bushnell had seen a test of the Odyssey. Atari had to pay $700,000 to license the patents, but Atari had more than enough wind at its back to launch the next phase of its company plan: Atari 2600.

The path to the Atari 2600 is marked with a few intriguing chicanes, but two really bear notice:

1. Bushnell had hired two programmers named Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak. They created their own personal computer and actually offered the idea and design to Bushnell. Bushnell declined. Jobs and Wozniak went on to start their own personal computer company: Apple.

2. Bushnell knew Atari needed additional capital in order to launch the Atari 2600. Steve Ross of Warner Communications wanted to get into videogames. The two struck a deal for Warner to buy Atari for $28 million. This deal did indeed give Atari the needed cash infusion, but it would later lead to severe consequences for Bushnell.

The Atari 2600

The Atari 2600 initially went on sale in October of 1977 for $199. It was a blockbuster, but not at first. The Atari 2600 sold 250,000 units in 1977 and 550,000 in the following year. The troubled start for the console and wrangling over starting a home computer division at Atari put Bushnell at odds with Warner. Bushnell was forced out. In 1979, though, the Atari 2600 picked up steam and became the best-selling gift for Christmas. In 1980, thanks to a home port of Space Invaders, the Atari 2600 started to skyrocket. By 1982, Atari sold almost 8 million 2600 consoles.

Bushnell watched from the sidelines as Atari's overreach, exacerbated by the monster failure of E.T. for the 2600 and the hundreds of rushed games clogging shelves lead to the fabled videogame crash of 1984. However, he did have another business venture to keep busy with: Chuck E. Cheese.